Today I read this report about a gigantic ice shelf collapsing in Antarctica, which scientists say is a sign of worsening global warming.
I guess when I read an article like that I have to respond with Dennis Miller's line about global warming - "Hey, what's a few degrees?"
Here's a story on CNN about this week's mission to the International Space Station by Endeavour:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/03/10/space.shuttle.ap/index.html
Amongst other things our astronauts are delivering a robot to the ISS, and the AP writer seems to have heard of these "ro-bots" before but mainly as something her son watches on the Nickelodeon. I love how much time the story spends assuring us the Canadian robot "Dextre" can't - PROBABLY WON'T - turn evil. We are assured that it has no face or legs and cannot think for itself. They also feel the need to point out that, even though it's referred to as a "he," robots in fact have no gender.
I also love that the whole exercise is "dabbling in science fiction." I guess riding a rocket to a science station in orbit around the Earth is pretty standard, but add a ro-bot to the mix and suddenly it's Star Wars.
Frankly the device sounds to me basically like a fancy telemetry arm; but CNN still takes the opportunity to assure us the chance that it will come alive and rip every man, woman, and ant-farm up on the Space Station a new asshole is very very small. There's almost NO reason to be alarmed.
I bet this is the reporter that used to write the puns for a local news station when they ran their "Animals are just WILD!" stories. If there was a deer running through the Wal-Mart or a dog nursing a litter of kittens, she was ON IT.